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THE BELLS 



BY 



EDGAR ALLAN POE. 



ILLUSTRATED BY 

DARLEY, McCUTCHEON, FREDERICKS, PERKINS, 
KING, RIORDAN AND NORTHAM. 










WASH^ViG^,^ 



PORTER & COATES, 
PHILADELPHIA, 



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Copyright, 

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By Porter & Coates 



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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Engraved by Jas. W. Lauderhach. 



Artist. 

Illustrated Title R. Riordaii. 

Head -piece Charles P. King. 

Vignette _ Charles P. Kiinr. 

"Hear the sledges with the bells" . . F. O. C Barley. 
"What a world of merriment their 

melody foretells!" S. G. McCutcheon. 

"How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle" . . A. Fredericks. 

"Hear the mellow weddincr-bells " . . F. O. C Darlev. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Artist. 

"Golden bells!" Charles P. King. 

"From the molten-golden notes" . F. O. C. Darley. 

"Oh, from out the sounding cells " . R. Riordan. 

"To the swinging and the ringing '' . A. Fredericks. 

"Hear the loud alarum-bells" . . Granville Perkins. 

"How they scream out their affright !" R. Riordan. 
" In the clamorous appealing to the 

mercy of the fire" . . . . F. O. C. Dai-ley. 
"In a mad expostulation with the 

deaf and frantic fire" . . . Granville Perkins. 

"Oh, the bells, bells, bells!" . . . Graiiville Perkins. 

"Yet the ear it fully knows" . . Granville Perkins. 

"Hear the tolling of the bells" . . F. O. C. Darley. 

"In the silence of the night" . . Miss C. A. Northam. 

"And the people, — ah, the people" . Granville Perkins. 

"And their king it is who tolls" . A. Fredericks. 

Tail-piece Charles P. King. 








Hear 

the 
sledges 
with the bells,- 
Silver bells, — 




What a world of merriment their melody foretells ! 




TTOW they tinkle, tinkle, imkle, 

In the icy air of night ! 
While the stars that oversprinkle 
All the heavens seem to twinkle 

With a crystalline delight, — 
Keeping time, time, time, 
In a sort of Runic rhyme, 
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells 
From the bells, bells, bells, bells. 
Bells, bells, bells,— 
From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. 




Hear the mellow wedding-bells, — 




Golden bells ! 
What a world of happiness their har- 
mony foretells ! 
Through the balmy air of night 

How they ring 
,-_ out their 

delight ! 




A- ;. r^ROM the molten-o;olden notes, 

Iff ^ And all in tune, 

What a liquid ditty floats 
To the turtle-dove that listens while she gloats 
On the moon ! 



HEAR the loud alarum-bells. — t""?**;." -i^' -'-' "v '-1 
Brazen bells! . ^ M^T^iswj. _ . '-. 

What a tale of terror, no\\ , their 
turbulency tells ' 
In the startled ear of night 



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U\V thty scream out their affright : 
Too much horrified to speak, 
They can only shriek, shriek, 
Out of tune. 




TN a mad expostulation 
with the deaf and frantic 
fire 

Leaping higher, higher, 

higher, 
With a desperate desire. 
And a resolute endeavor, 
Now — now to sit or never, 
By the side of the pale-faced 
moon. 



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|H, the bells, bells, bells! 

What a tale their terror tells 
Of despair ! 
How they clang, and clash, and roar! 
What a horror they outpour 
On the bosom of the palpitating air ! 





How the danger sinks and swells, 
By the sinking or the swelling in the 
anger of the bells, — 
Of the bells,— 
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, 

Bells, bells, bells,— 
tV^r^^ ^-^ In the clamor and the 
-^^^^ ^^^^^^^ clangor of the 
' . bells! 



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EAR the tolling- of the bells,— 
, Iron bells ! 
What a world of solemn thought their monody 
compels ! 


















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I i\ tne silence or tne night, 
How we shiver with affright 
At the melancholy menace of their tone ; 
For every sound that floats 
From the rust within their throats 
Is a groan. 




And 

the people, — 

ah, the people, — 

wf^^^ They that dwell up 

in the steeple, 

^ All alone. 

And who, tolling, tolling, toll- 

In that muffled monotone. 
Feel a glory in so rolling 

On the human heart a stone — -4^ 
They are neither man nor 

woman, — 
They are neither brute 
nor human, — 

They are ghouls : f 




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AND their king it is who 
tolls; 
And he rolls, rolls, rolls, 
Rolls, 
A paean from the bells ! 
And his merry bosom swells 

With the paean of the bells ! 
And he dances, and he yells ; 
Keeping time, time, time, 
In a sort of Runic rhyme, 
To the paean of the bells, — 
Of the bells : 




KEEPING time, time, time. 
In a sort of Runic rhyme. 
To the throbbing of the bells, — 
Of the bells, bells, bells, — 

To the sobbing of the bells ; 
Keeping time, time, time, 

As he knells, knells, knells. 
In a happy Runic rhyme. 

To the rolling of the bells, — 
Of the bells, bells, bells,— 

To the tolling of the bells. 
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, — 
Bells, bells, bells,— 
To the moaning and the groaning of the bells. 




Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent; Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Sept. 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 











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